Union Government issues guidelines in wake of Zika Virus outbreak

The Union Government has issued detailed guidelines to tackle the outbreak of Zika Virus Disease in the wake of reported cases in Americas.

These guidelines were issued by Union Health Ministry and comes after World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared this outbreak as Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Key guidelines are

Delhi based National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) would be the nodal agency for investigation of outbreak of Zika Virus in any part of the country.

Citizens especially pregnant women must defer or cancel their travel to the affective countries.

All international airports and ports in the country will display signage with information on the disease and quarantine facilities will be set up.

Travellers must report to customs if they are returning from affected countries and suffering from febrile illness.

All travellers present in affected areas should strictly follow individual protective measures, especially during day time to prevent mosquito bite.

Rapid Response Teams (RRT) comprising a microbiologist, an epidemiologist and a medical specialist has been set up.

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) through its community and hospital based data gathering mechanism will track clustering of acute febrile illness.

So far, 23 countries including Brazil, Bolivia, Barbados and Columbia have reported Zika Virus disease. Among them Brazil is the country worst hit by the outbreak and it is investigating 3,670 suspected cases of microcephaly in babies linked to the Zika virus. No case of the virus has been reported in India.